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INTERVIEW
Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne’s comedy/drama film, Instant Family appears to be an instant hit with both critics and audiences alike. Sure, not everyone is a fan, but I suspect that people don’t actually have kids themselves. Those that do, appreciate all of the chaos and (at times) the corniness that is a part of family life. In the movie, Wahlberg and Byrne play a couple who want to start a family, but sort of feel that they are a bit old to be just starting and find themselves looking into foster care adoption and end up adopting a teen girl and her two younger siblings. Unrealistic you say? Try telling that to Sean Anders who co-wrote the script and directed the movie. He lived it. Well, mostly.

I met Anders last week to talk about Instant Family just before the film opened and my biggest question for him was how much of this film was actually based on real life. “A lot of it,” he said and then went on telling me a story about how his family came to be.

“First of all, my …

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Paddington Will Win Over Your Heart

The TV commercials for the new Paddington movie do not do the movie any justice. The images of the
little bear riding a bathtub down the stairs and the bewildered Mr. Brown look
like the film Beethoven that replaces
a bear for a St. Bernard. It’s not. In fact, most of the scenes in the TV
trailer take place in the first few minutes of the film and there is so much
more to see.

Mrs. Brown (Sally Hawkins), Paddington andMr. Gruber (Jim Broadbent).

What director Paul King does with the story is pretty
magical. Yes, there is some slapstick that the kids will love, but those scenes
are a lot more elaborate than someone slipping on a banana peel. Each is caused
by a real mishap in the story – not something that was just tacked on to be
cute. What makes this film shine, above and beyond many other children’s fair,
is that it is well rounded for all audiences. There is plenty of dry humor for
adults too. In addition, King chooses some truly unique ways to move the story
along that gives the film its charming tone. There is no bathroom humor –
except for the funny scenes that actually takes place in the bathroom!

Paddington and Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville)

The movie has strong messages about family, marriage and
taking care of people – or bears – less fortunate than you. In this case, the
Brown family unit is broken. Not terribly broken – they are similar to many of
our own families – but still broken. Mr. Brown (Hugh Bonneville) is a worrywart
who is constantly spewing random and off-based statistics of injuries that can
happen to a person doing the most menial things. His son, Jonathan (Samuel
Joslin) wants adventure in his life so bad, but it’s never going to happen
while dad is around. Mrs. Brown (Sally Hawkins) is a children’s book writer and
illustrator. She is very “artsy” which annoys her daughter, Judy (Madeleine
Harris). Living with the family is Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) who might be a
grandmother, but it isn’t clear.

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MUSICOn September 19, Buzzfeed released an interview with Lisa Gungor promoting her book, The Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Seen. Not only was the title of the video incorrect (“I Stopped Believing in God After Pastoring a Megachurch”) but the short film was edited in such a way as to lead fans to believe that she and her husband were no longer Christians. As expected, the video went viral and as of today has over 1,230,000 views. Concerned Christians, like myself, posted the video on our websites adding to the misinformation and for that I am sorry to add to the confusion.

On September 20, Lisa Gungor posted a correction to the video on Instagram, however, I did not know that it existed until today. In her post, Lisa explains what wasn’t said in the video. She says that she is still thankful that Buzzfeed did the story and even says that while the title bothered her, it apparently only bothered “a few” fans as well, which frankly, I feel is bothersome. Even so, I have to say that I’ve ne…

INTERVIEW
In March 2016, I had the chance to meet Walt Disney Animation Studios animator Kira Lehtomaki who grew up in Edmonds, Washington, not far from my hometown. She was in town for a press tour promoting Zootopia for which she served as an animation supervisor for the character Judy Hopps. She’s one of those people who truly wished upon a star and saw her dream come true. At a very early age, Kira knew that she wanted to become an animator for Disney and today, she’s living that dream.

Recently, I caught up with Lehtomaki again to discuss her time working on Ralph Breaks the Internet (which comes to theaters on November 21) where she served as one of the heads of animation. Although she has previously worked on Bolt, Frozen, Tangled and the first Wreck-It Ralph movies, this was her first time serving as a co-head of animation alongside Renato Dos Anjos. Instead of supervising just one character, she and Renato oversaw the film’s entire animation team making sure that directors Ph…